The Sierra Club is holding a gubernatorial forum on water policy.

The environmentalist group has invited the four major Republican and two major Democratic candidates to a forum at Griffith Theater at Duke University on March 25 from 1 to 4 p.m. They hope to hold two forums for each party.

Co-sponsors include the League of Municipalities, the N.C. Association of County Commissioners, the N.C. Rural Center and the CCNC. 

Can a two-mile water line be a terrorist target?

It's not just benzene that state officials are concerned about in spending $740,000 to run a water line out to four homes in Jackson County, Dan Kane reports.

The state Department of Environment and Natural Resources denied The News & Observer access to maps and other records showing where the line would run. Laura Leonard, a spokeswoman for DENR's environmental health division, cited a provision in the public records law that she says classifies such records as "sensitive public security information."

"As public water systems are considered to be a public building or infrastructure facility, any detailed plans and drawings related to this project have been excluded," Leonard said in an e-mail message.

A press association attorney said that was a misinterpretation of the law.

More after the jump.

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